Measure B is too restrictive

STAFF REPORT

STAFF REPORT | October 14, 2013

Editor, Index-Tribune:

Measure B, to limit the size of hotels in Sonoma to 25 rooms, is too restrictive.

For more than 50 years, I have been aware of a hotel in Sonoma that is very appropriate for our town in both size and character. It fits in well. It is the El Pueblo Inn – look at it as you go by. There should be a place in Sonoma for a hotel similar to the El Pueblo Inn, but that inn has more than 50 units and the passage of measure B would mean that a similar one couldn’t be constructed for many years, if ever.

Although this initiative supposedly isn’t connected with the latest hotel plan proposed for West Napa Street, that proposal seems to be what most people are considering in deciding their support for Measure B. Along with many others, I have questions about the proposed hotel. If I were still a member of the Sonoma City Council, my main concerns would be about parking and traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian.

Will there be enough parking for staff as well as guests? What about parking for the restaurant? Will this also be by valet parking? What about parking for deliveries to the hotel and restaurant? There is certainly no place on Napa Street for any deliveries.

And traffic. What can be done to keep cars turning into the hotel area from blocking traffic? How much worse will be the present problems with pedestrians crossing at Broadway and at First Street West?

What will be the expected addition to pedestrian traffic from this proposal? These are some of the questions that should be thoughtfully considered for any such proposal.

Please join me in voting “no” on B. Each project should stand or fall on its own merits.